Friday, 3 January 2014

Umami Burger NYC

It seems to have become a tradition for me to share my favourite food spots here on the blog when I come back from a holiday. Before I go I spend weeks, if not months, researching the destination and searching blogs for reviews and recommendations for restaurants and bars in the area. I think it only makes sense that I pass on my findings here for any other like-minded googlers. While in New York I devoured many a cheeseburger but one of my favourites by far was at Umami Burger.

Umami Burger's only NY branch is located in Greenwich Village and was the perfect lunch stop after a morning of retail therapy on Bleecker Street. The restaurant was buzzing with locals as well as tourists and after a quick 5 minute wait we were seated at a table near the bar. As always I started with cocktails. My poison of choice was the "Unlikely Pear" - a martini fusion of Rock Sake and Grey Goose Le Poir. A sweet but slightly tangy mix that went down a treat.

The menu featured a few specials, some of which are unique to the NY location but I played it safe with food and went for "The Original", minus the shiitake mushroom. Usually I like my meat well done but this baby was served medium-rare and I could not fault it. The crispy parmesan and caramelized onions were definitely the cherry on top!

We ordered a side of thin fries as well as sweet potato fries to share. According to the menu the sweet potato fries are served with "signature sweet salt" but on this occasion they Christmassed them up (new word) with some sort of sweet cinnamon coating? We've tried recreating them at home since and failed. God knows how they make them but they're all kinds of epic.

*N.B. Maybe that is the signature sweet salt? To be fair I just assumed that this was a festive special...

In true Gordon style he ordered a beer (it always makes me laugh when he asks for a pint, and the waitresses look at him like he has 3 heads) with the "Manly burger". This beef burger mans up with the help of beer-cheddar cheese, bacon lardons, smoked-salt onion strings, house ketchup and mustard spread. A big juicy beast of a burger that even made Mr Anti-Foodstagram take a picture. (He resisted instagram and only uploaded to Facebook haha.)

We savoured our burgers and hoovered up every last sweet potato fry before heading back out into the cold city. You can find Umami Burger at 432 6th Avenue (3 blocks North of Washington Square Park) or in various other locations in California and Florida. Let me know if you try one! :)